No doubt, most of us have been inundated with questions from parents about whether their children should return to school in person. A large national survey of parents of children aged 5-17 years found that families were split over what they planned to do. Fear of COVID-19 in general as well as specific fear of multisystem inflammatory disease were both associated with an intention to keep children at home.
News reports of rising numbers of infected children have probably helped fuel parental concerns. Fortunately, the evidence suggests that severe illness in children is the exception and not the rule.
Parental concerns over whether to send children to school suggests an obvious role for pediatric clinicians. Discussing these concerns can reassure families and move us further toward the American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP) goal of returning more kids to in-person learning.
But should we be doing that? What is the evidence that it can be done safely?
Kids and COVID-19: Quick Review of Evidence
How many children reporting to school are likely to be positive in the first place? A recent studylooked at 30,000 asymptomatic children who underwent preoperative evaluations at a US children's hospital, finding a positivity rate of less than 1%.
